Clever, Nami
by Oceanwind
Summary: It's just something about the way he says her name that throws her off. How can she think straight when he's so serious for once? She finds her resitance shrinking away but still has a few tricks up her sleeve. LuffyxNami


**Disclamier: **It's simple. I do not own One Piece.

**Clever, Nami**

His face was twisted in a pout but his eyes were unsettling. He was upset but he was trying not to show her, well he was but she didn't think he meant to show her how much. His hat was resting in his hands and he seemed to be gripping it with a little more force than necessary. His head was tilted slightly so the angle he was peering at her gave her a strong impression of Puppy dog eyes. It had been three days and she wasn't sure if she could handle this much longer.

"Come on Nami… Marry me," it wasn't really a question, more like a demand he expected her to fulfill. Lately he had taken to asking her this question. She knew it was pointless to try and dissuade him, especially when she had no valid reason in his opinion. Beside the fact that it was Luffy and once he decided something it was literally impossible to change his mind. She just sighed and ignored him, looking pointedly at the blank sheet of paper before her. She was trying to finish a map but in a vain attempt.

She tried to ignore the way he was saying her name. It was like he knew she liked hearing it, granted it might be a little conceded but the way Luffy said it always made a small smile tug on her lips. She set her lips into a firm line trying not to let them twitch. Why had the crew gone ashore and left him here alone with her? They all knew he had been bothering her the past few days. What had she done to deserve such a cruel punishment? That might have been a bit melodramatic but she could think of several things she had done that her friends would take an act on revenge for.

"Oi, Nami… hey Nami, Nami, Nami-"

"What Luffy?" she hissed finally settling to look at him. She was still seated at her desk she twisted her back to face him, her arm slung over the back of it as she glared at him. She raised her fist to bump him on the head but he caught her hand, a mischievous grin lighting up on his face. Oh great, what had she just egged on this time?

"Nami, why won't you marry me?"

"We've been over this. There are several reasons," she replied irritated and snapped back her hand, massaging it lightly in her other hand. She glared at him as she crossed her arms over her chest, trying to look intimidating. That really did nothing to affect Luffy.

"It'll be fun, Nami," he interjected.

"No, Luffy," she snarled and turned back to face the blank map.

And then he laughed. His stupid laugh that could be identified anywhere in this world. A laugh that she could depend on to lighten the mood. Serious emotions rarely got to Luffy, she supposed that was why everyone was drawn to him. He was the glue that held them all together. He supported them while they chased their dreams; even if they were all different they fitted together with him leading them.

"I got you," his voice brought her out of her thoughts but she didn't turn to face him. She didn't need to turn around to look to know that he was smiling widely at her.

"You got me?" she asked caving, feeling only a small desire to know what he could possibly be going on about this time.

"I got you to say my name!" he said proudly and laughed loudly.

"So?" she questioned feeling slightly lost.

"I like when you say my name Nami. Almost as much as you like it when I say yours."

Blunt, idiotic, stupid, simple, boy! He always did this. He would play dumb even though in reality he was very perceptive, especially when it came to friends. His incredible sense of following his instincts simply because they never led him astray (besides his sense of direction) was such an admirable trait. It was what made him a great captain. No the best captain, but right now this didn't play to her favor.

Her back went rigid as she stared at her paper long and hard. She settled for sighing and choosing not to respond. Luffy couldn't throw her off with a simple and dead on analysis if she didn't respond.

"Oi, Nami, don't go back to working. I'm trying to ask you a serious question here," he whined. He leaned over her shoulder to rest his head there as he looked at her blank piece of paper. "Besides you haven't gotten anything done," he pouted and sighed his breath ghosting over her skin.

"I haven't gotten anything done because you refuse to leave me ALONE," she snapped smacking him hard on top of his head. He winced but surprisingly he didn't move from her shoulder.

"Not until you agree to marry me, Nami," he said firmly but his voice still had a whine to it and she could have sworn she heard him stomp his foot on the ground. Seriously? How childish.

She slumped forward feeling drained. She rested her head in between her palms and let a deep breath out. Feeling like a tumor was possibly developing in her brain. She would have to ask Chopper to check that out for her. She rubbed her temples with her fingers and roughly shoved Luffy's face away as he looked up at her from her shoulder. He just didn't know when to quit.

"Why do you suddenly want to get married Luffy?" she asked realizing if she got to the root of this idea she had a better chance of withstanding it.

She thought she had him floored for a moment because he didn't respond right away. She took that as a hopeful sign that maybe he was rethinking about why he had asked her to begin with. She grinned turning around in her chair to look at him.

His face was stern and he was staring at her intently as if she should just know the answer to that question. And maybe she did know why he was asking her but she really didn't see where this was coming from. Sure they both felt something for each other but Luffy had never really expressed any romantic gestures or anything to suggest this. The only thing one could really look into was his possessiveness when it came to her being in danger and he would do that for any member of this crew. That was part of a reason of why he was such a great captain, everyone was equally important to him.

And now that she looked into it she realized something. Luffy had been subtle with this. He had built a friendship that would last no matter what happened between them. He had been subtle in his way of telling her he liked her as well. Leaving his hat with her while she sun bathed with Robin, offering to carry her when she started trailing behind the others, asking her advice on things before he consulted the others, it was all the little things.

"I'm sure I can't live without you," he firmly said after he watched her a moment longer. It was as if he was letting her think about all that stuff so she would have less resistance.

"But the crew…"

"Will understand," he said taking a step closer to her. She stood up from her desk, eyeing the distance between them. Normally she managed to get out of his questioning by now.

"Sanji won't," she said firmly smiling at what she imagined the cook's reaction to be. That had to be her trump card.

"He's the one that told me to go for it," he said laughing as her face fell. She found it hard to believe but she didn't press him for details at the moment. So much for her trump card… She needed an excuse a valid excuse to resist.

"We're so young."

"I don't want anyone else," he said firmly, taking another step closer to her. She took a step back feeling herself back into her desk. "Do you?" he asked.

She knew if she answered that that he would have her cornered with no chance of escape. She kept her silence as her mind raced for another excuse, something… anything.

"You aren't the Pirate King yet," she wasn't sure if that was a reason but she said it firmly like it was. It was cliché she knew. He didn't need a Queen and there was no rule that said he had to get married after that. Even if there was he was a pirate, who said he had to live by rules?

He just laughed as he studied her face. It must have been written all over her face that even she didn't buy what she said, but this time he kept his silence. Taking a leaf out of her book and waited patiently for her to respond or at least as patiently as possible for Luffy. He took another daunting step forward and Nami found herself pressed firmly against her desk trying to avoid his piercing eyes now. He was so close she could see the hint of brown in his onyx eyes.

"Luffy, I don't…" she sucked in a deep breath as his hand grabbed her waist and pulled her flush against him, pinning her arms down at her sides with ease.

"You don't what?" he asked a small smile on his lips as he looked at her expectantly.

She couldn't bring herself to say it. She was about to say 'Luffy, I don't love you' but she knew that would be an utter and total lie. She knew she was good at lying and things like that but she knew he would see through it, and if he didn't… if he didn't she didn't want to say that with the possibility of hurting his feelings.

"I don't want to get married," she finished lamely.

"Why not? Are you already married?" he asked, his voice sounded slightly hurt and she was glad she didn't say what she had almost said. She hated regretting things anyways.

"No," she said softly looking down and blushing at seeing how close they were. He still hadn't released her. This was as forward as he had been with her so far.

"So why not? We love each other," he said it so causally it caused her to blush. That was the first time he had admitted it and he said it like that. As if it was not a big deal.

"You love all your friends," she said flatly.

He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Obviously I have a different kind of love for you if I'm asking you to marry me," he said annoyed and the way he said it, almost made it sound like he thought she was being stupid. It was so simple but it was something that needed to be clarified for her. She even did feel a little dumb for a moment before she remembered who she was talking too and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling.

"Nami," he said quietly and she felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest. "Don't you want to be able to kiss me every day?" he had a soft smile on his lips as he leaned forward ever so slightly.

His lips were separated from hers by less than a centimeter, but he paused and looked at her expectantly. His lips looked so inviting, and they promised to be warm. Wait a second… He knew how to tease her now too? She scoffed and tried to pull out of his grasp but he held on to her.

"Luffy," she growled low in her throat. Once her arms were free he could definitely expect a lump on his head.

His lips were still unbearably close she could have sworn she brushed against them when she said his name. He was grinning, a soft mischievous grin that had yet to leave his face since he had cornered her.

"Nami," he said seriously and she felt the blush that stained her face darken a shade. Why was it that when he said her name it affected her so much? It shouldn't matter that she loved the way it seemed to flow off his tongue, or how he perfectly pronounced it every time. It was like he had a conversation with her just when he said her name. She could tell exactly what he wanted when he said her name before he even asked a question.

She gasped at the realization that it might be the same way for him. While he heard her saying no over and over again the way she said his name might be telling him otherwise. Hadn't he said something earlier that he liked how she said it? She blushed deeply. Since when did Luffy do something that was not straight forward. Or maybe it was straightforward. After all, he knew how to read his reads perfectly and since he admitted to loving her she knew he could read her probably even better than normal. Maybe she was looking way too far into this.

"I'm your navigator, you won't ever have to live without me," she said trying, again, to search for a reason to say no to his proposal by bringing back what he said earlier.

"But if you're_ just_ my navigator then I can't kiss you every day," he said easily. His lips were still close and she tried not to shiver as his breathe tingled her lips.

"Sure you could, it is called dating," Nami said rolling her eyes and trying not to stare hungrily at his lips. They still looked hauntingly inviting.

"I want to be the only one you kiss… forever," he said firmly, losing all sense of joking now. He had been serious to begin with, she realized trying to calm her racing heart. How could he be so serious? She gulped.

She was running out of things to say, she had literally and figuratively backed herself into a corner. And she knew he was right, everything he said made it impossible to want to resist, but still she wanted… she wasn't even sure what she wanted. She wanted him that was true but she didn't want to go from friends to all of a sudden being married. Married life was completely different than friendship, at least that was what she had always thought.

She spent every day with him, she cared for him, she wouldn't mind stealing a free kiss from him every now and then. She just wanted what every girl wanted, even if this was the longest her and Luffy had talked about this sort of thing. She wanted romance. She wanted to be swept off her feet. Well she was wasn't she? Luffy was the most romantic person she knew, his very ideals were to the core romanticism. He just wasn't the type to show up with a box of candy and a corny card. He was the type that would do everything in his power to keep his word and strive for a goal. He offered everything someone could want in a marriage, safety, and most importantly friendship.

The very thing that had her at unease was the thing that could never be broken between them. Some bonds just couldn't be broken no matter what happened.

"Fine," she said sighing, "I'll marry you."

She grinned as he closed the space between them and pressed his lips to hers. It was warm, just like she had thought, and it left her light headed and all too soon he pulled away from her.

"No condition right?" he asked teasingly.

"No, there is a condition," she said smiling and adopting his devious smile from earlier.

"Interesting," he said before he bent down to capture her lips in his once again. He obviously didn't care what the condition was he was just ecstatic that she finally agreed. He had been asking her for what felt like months now (when in reality it had been three days). "What might that be?" he asked after they broke apart for air.

"We're waiting until you're King of the Pirates," she said innocently winking at him.

His jaw dropped before he laughed and pulled her closer to his chest in a hug. He kissed the top of her head before he bent down to whisper in her ear.

"Clever, Nami," he whispered still chuckling quietly. "That's one of the things I love about you."

She smiled in response feeling an odd bubbling feeling in her chest as her heart pounded loudly. Her thoughts because unfocused as a fuzzy feeling made her feel alight with happiness.

She would get married to him for sure, one day. And that might have always been obvious to them. She knew there was a difference in the friendships, between being friends and being something more. She wanted time to discover that 'something more' with Luffy. To some people there might not be such a huge difference between the two but she knew deep down that there was. And she knew it didn't really matter when they got married, she would marry him today. She just liked to tease him. She had plenty of time to discover this new found relationship with Luffy. She already was his, it just wasn't official yet. After all, she would always belong to him, whether it was as his navigator or as his wife.

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><p><strong>AN: **Randomly got inspired and wrote this at like 2 in the morning? I did go back over it but please let me know if you spot any mistakes. Other than that I hope this was enjoyed. :)


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